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We Need to Talk About Netflix’s Ad Numbers

Netflix upended the industry once again last week with its first appearance at the upfronts, touting some strong numbers for its new ad tier. The streamer’s main argument coalesced around 5 million monthly active users, but… five million of what, exactly?

Netflix co-C.E.O. Ted Sarandos. Photo: Franco Origlia/Getty Images
Julia Alexander
May 23, 2023

The TV upfronts are an exercise in the art of obfuscation, or framing, or simple B.S., as my colleague Matt Belloni recently wrote. Media companies are selling advertising agencies and Fortune 100 C.M.O.s on the idea that their series, or platform, is the most brand-safe, or the most Gen Z-friendly, or the best place for allergy medication spots. Indeed, this was all much easier when the media industry agreed upon a simple medium (linear) and there was one analytics platform (Nielsen), which informed ad spend better than just about anything else. You could simply look at the 8 p.m. slot on Wednesday and see that, yes, Dick Wolf was still TV’s magnetic draw.